What do I Want From our New President?

Now that we have a new president-elect, what do I want to see in the future? I have always cared about the environment, and I think that Obama's goal to reduce global warming in our country is a good goal. I would also like to know that he will be working to conserve the wildlife of our planet, because what has me worried right now is that his plan seems like it is mostly a way to creating new jobs. Even though these new jobs would be good for the economy, I don't want Obama to forget about our world.

That's what I want to see from our new president, but I know that none of it can happen without a community effort. Keeping this in mind, I also want to see community projects that focus on recycling and other eco-friendly practices. I know that we as a people can take responsibility for our world...We just need a little bit of motivation, and a reality check: Our planet is in trouble and it's our fault. Global warming, extinction, pollution. All these are man-made problems, and only we can fix them. I don't think we're out of time yet, but we will be soon, so we had better start now.

The Outcome of our Election

What was your reaction on the election? What are your hopes? What are your fears? What do you now wonder?

Sitting there waiting for the election to start, I was extremely nervous...By the end of the night we would find out which direction our country would take. I hoped it was the right one.

My family was gathered in the room, sitting on the chairs, or on the floor. We were all tense and ready for whatever happened. It looked to me like a very close race, the number of votes for both candidates began to climb, and almost from the start it was clear to me that Obama was pulling ahead. Although all the numbers were showing Obama in the lead, I was still nervous. I wanted them to hurry up and get it over with; I wanted to know with absolute certainty who our next president was going to be.

For a long time Obama had 206 electoral votes, and we watched McCain’s vote creeping slowly closer. Then, all of a sudden Obama’s picture flashed across the screen, every station we turned to was declaring Obama the winner. I found out later that a lot of states had finished polling at the same time, and all of them went to Obama. This included California, which singlehandedly gave Obama 55 votes, only 9 short of the 64 he still needed to claim the election.

The camera zoomed over a massive crowd, all cheering and hugging, and some crying. I saw how emotional people had become about this campaign, and I believe that America made the right choice. I do not agree with Obama on some issues, but I do believe that he will make a great leader for our country.

I almost felt sorry for McCain though, his concession speech was very noble in my opinion...You could tell he was disappointed, but he accepted his loss, and he was still happy to have run. He didn’t want the crowd to shout negative things at Obama, and altogether I think he handled it very well.

Obama’s acceptance speech was extremely powerful, what really made it real to me was when he talked about this 106 year old women who voted this year. He talked about everything she lived through, and it made me realize how much our country has changed in just one person’s lifetime. Obama’s speech was very hopeful, and yet, it still recognized the issues we face today.

What I hope for in this election is for the war to end peacefully and responsibly without a massacre. I also really want stricter environmental laws; anyone who’s talked to me about my issues knows how much the issue of environmental health matters to me, I hope Obama will be able to help move our country in a more environmentally friendly direction. This is necessary, and I don’t think we can put it off anymore. What I fear is that all those promises he made are empty of meaning...He preaches change, and I fear what will happen in our country if he does not deliver the change he speaks of. I fear that the population will become resistant to anything that may benefit us, if it is even the slightest bit more work. Many people in our country are very lazy, and I fear what will happen if they don’t learn how to motivate themselves to work for a better future.

I wonder if Obama will be able to do anything about our economy; how well will his plan work? What will we do if it fails? Perhaps it is already too late, but I doubt that. I also want to know how Obama will handle the war, I want to know if our troops will finally be coming home. I hope they are, I’m sure we are all sick of this war, I for one, can’t wait for peace.